04.07.2017 Maksim Ali, Senior Associate

Maxim Ali has commented on a new law blocking mirror pirate sites

On 1 July Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the federal law ‘On information’ which provides for blocking access to copies of pirate websites, so called mirror sites, that provides copies of sites that have been blocked on the basis of the decision of the Moscow City Court.  Novaya Advokatskaya Gazeta published an article on the topic titled ‘Mirrors to be beaten without trials’ which collected expert opinions about the amendments.

Senior Associate at Maxima Legal, Maxim Ali, who specialises in IP/IT matters, commented that in the final draft of the law, which was signed by the President, the procedure for blocking mirror sites was radically changed.  “Previously the discussion was about whether the reason for blocking a site should be a court order, issued on the basis of a decision by the Ministry of Communications that a site is ‘confusingly similar’ to a site that has already been blocked by the Moscow City Court.  The new procedure for blocking such a site does not provide for any kind of court decision.  As such to restrict access to a copy of a blocked site it will be sufficient for a decision of the Ministry of Communications, which will be sent to Roskomnadzor and then to internet providers”, explains Maxim.

At the same time, according to Maxim the procedure established by the new law does not provide the owners of websites with an opportunity to challenge any blocking: “The law does not provide a remedy for a violation or an effective route to appeal a decision of Ministry of Communications or the conduct of Roskomnadzor.  The only route left for the owners of sites which may have been classed as mirror sites in error is to apply to court.  In this regard a very important role will be played by criteria of the Russian government, which will determine whether a site is classed by the Ministry of Communications as ‘confusingly similar’ with a pirate site and should be blocked”.

For a full version of the article, please see the following link.